A modern machine (e.g., a fixed or mobile commercial machine, such as a construction machine, fixed engine system, marine-based machine, etc.) may be leased to a customer from a machine owner with financing handled by a financial entity. Typically, at the beginning of the lease, the customer enters into an application agreement, which specifies the type of application the machine is agreed to be subject to during the lease (e.g., mining, construction, types of environments, etc.), the agreed number of hours of machine use for the term of the lease, and any other restrictions or requirements. Further, the application agreement typically specifies penalties for overuse of the machine and/or use of the machine in a manner that is inconsistent with the terms of the application agreement.
In some situations, the customer may use the machine in excess of the agreed upon number of hours of use during the lease. In other situations, the customer may use the machine for an application that was not specified in the application agreement. Based on the terms of the application agreement, the financial entity that leased the machine may have expected the machine to have a greater value at the end of the lease term. As a result of overuse or use of the machine in an environment not specified in the application agreement, the depreciated value of the machine may be less than expected.
During the term of the lease, the financial entity is typically unaware of the present value of the machine because it is costly and impractical to expend the resources necessary to perform regular inspections of all leased machines. Further, due to the overuse of the machine or use of the machine that is inconsistent with the application agreement, the financial entity may have to charge the customer a penalty. Even though the penalty is specified in the application agreement, due to the passage of time since the customer entered into the agreement, the penalty might be an unexpected cost. After being charged the penalty, the customer might come away from the transaction with a negative impression of the experience.
The financial entity would like to provide the customer with a better experience in order to encourage repeat business and customer goodwill. For example, the financial entity would prefer to inform the customer of the overuse of the machine during the term of the lease. At that time, the customer may then have the option of adjusting the amount of use of the machine in order to use the machine in a manner that is more consistent with the terms of the application agreement. Alternatively, the customer may indicate that the current level of use of the machine is required for the remainder of the lease term. In such a situation, the financial entity would have an option available to renegotiate the rate of the lease for the remainder of the lease term with the customer. By renegotiating the rate, the customer would not incur an unexpected and likely greater penalty at the end of the lease term. However, since the financial entity is unaware of the overuse of a leased machine and/or use of the machine that is inconsistent with the application agreement, these options are not available.
One method of tracking and managing physical assets is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,680 B1 (the '680 patent), which issued to Melby et al. on Oct. 4, 2005. The '680 patent describes a system that gathers, analyzes, and delivers information relating to assets, such as a fleet of industrial equipment. Although the system of the '680 patent may analyze the information relating to the assets and schedule asset maintenance as required, the system nevertheless has several disadvantages. For example, the system of the '680 patent does not determine whether a machine has been used in excess of an application agreement. Further, the system of the '680 patent does not use data collected from a machine to notify a customer of overuse and a penalty that will be incurred if the level of overuse continues to the end of a lease term.
The disclosed system and methods are directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.